This report describes efforts by five states (Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) to improve adolescent literacy. Highlighting common challenges and lessons, the report examines how each state has engaged key stakeholders, set rigorous goals and standards, aligned resources to support adolescent literacy goals, built educator capacity, and used data to measure progress. Responding to questions from state education agency staff members and policymakers, the report describes what each state has done to promote effective adolescent literacy practices in schools and districts. The researchers collected information from policy documents and through interviews with key staff members at state education agencies. Following individual state case studies, a cross-state analysis examines how each state applied five types of strategies for improving adolescent literacy: (1) Engaging key stakeholders to make adolescent literacy a priority; (2) Setting rigorous state literacy goals and standards, with other state policies aligned to support them; (3) Aligning resources to support adolescent literacy goals; (4) Building educator capacity to support adolescent literacy programs at state, school, and classroom levels; and (5) Measuring progress and using data to make decisions and provide oversight. The five strategies were applied with considerable variation across the five states. Five appendixes are included: (1) Review of Research on Adolescent Literacy and Related Policy: (2) Glossary; (3) Methodology of State Selection, Data Collection, and Analysis; (4) Advisors to the Report; and (5) Questions Used for interview Protocols. (Contains 4 boxes and 9 tables.) [This report was prepared for the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences (IES) by Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands administered by Education Development Center, Inc. For the report summary, see ED504787.]